Agriculture work in a community school

Our volunteers, community members, and students are committed to social justice, community development, and education.

As the government in Nepal is unable to provide for a free and accessible quality education in the rural areas of the country Maya Universe Academy mission is to give a chance to children of remote areas of the country.

Volunteers work hand-in-hand with the community in order to provide a free quality education to these unprivileged children.

Today, thanks to the help of motivated and enthusiastic believers, Maya Universe Academy grew its facilities, its education possibilities and is starting the become self-sustainable thanks to its social enterprises. 

We operate with the help of local and international volunteers and by our own dedication to hard work. We drink spring water, tend fields, cook on an open fire, and bare the harsh conditions of living in a remote village of Nepal with a lot of fun in order to offer the opportunity of education to children otherwise overlooked.

Inspired by our gracious supporters and friends, Maya Universe Academy continues to educate and inspire our students and their families. The community recognizes the power of education, and our school continues to expand as we accept new students, teachers, and volunteers.

Be a part of this innovating education solution for Nepal by joining us in this volunteering program.

How can you get involved?

We have a small farm where we raise a number of animals to help pay for running the school. Currently, we rear goats, chickens and pigs.You can help feeding our valuable animals every day, collecting vegetation, taking the goats out to pasture, taking care of chicken. 

Most of the vegetables we grow is used as materials for school meal. Currently we grow pumpkins, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, beans, and eggplant. We also have fruit trees, including lemon, orange, lychee, papaya, and banana. However, it will be a few years before they mature and produce. Volunteers in agriculture help with the digging, planting and watering of the garden to provide more food for the school.  

By working in agriculture for a school, the volunteers will be able to enjoy the company of the children during their free time and work closely with skilled locals. 

Despite the agriculture work, volunteers learn and grow from their experience and the children from Maya Universe Academy. They gain perspective through the differences in language, culture and way of living.

Who lives at Maya

• Hostel Children: Students living at the school. Their villages are too far away to commute every day, so they live at the school in their own hostel. 
  
• Permanent Volunteers: Nepali volunteers that live at the school and help run daily operations.
  
• Temporary Volunteers: Nepali and international volunteers who stay for both short-term and long- term periods.
  

Location

At the school, you will be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery as it is surrounded by hills and mountains. By being further away from big cities, the area is more quiet and refreshing.

Dress code

Dress code is casual. However girls must refrain from wearing skirts and shorts above knee level and tight leggings (unless worn with a long top / dress). The shower area is a public communal area. Girls must wear a lunghi which can be purchased from school. Boys must wear loose fitting shorts.

When coming for a volunteering at Maya Universe Academy, you should bring a sleeping bag ( a light one from April to September is enough) as well as a refilable bottle of water. Do not worry if you forgot something at home as commodities available in the village shop. Further explanation about what you will need during your volunteering program will be shared with you once enrolling wit Maya.

At 6:00 am, 2 volunteers are asked for kitchen duty. They help prepare the breakfast for the volunteers and children from the hostel. 

Every morning, volunteers have breakfast with the children from the school at 8:00 am.

 At 9:00 am we all gather in the morning assembly which takes form in a circle. All students, teachers and volunteers gather to share news, poetry and other creative work, which is always followed by a physical activity or game and the Nepali national anthem. Volunteers and teachers also perform once a week. 

At 10:00 am, the working day stats for volunteers.

• The work in agriculture consists in digging, planting, watering the various fruits and vegetables in our garden.

At 3:00 pm students are divided into groups according to their interests and workshops available to them depending on the volunteers' rang of skills set. 

At 7:00 pm the volunteers can have a traditional and simple meal with the children. 

After having dinner, volunteers usually gather together to enjoy their free time before going to sleep. 

During their free time, volunteers generally hang out together in the volunteers' facilities . It is a nice time for everyone to get to know each other and integrate the group. 

The privileged location of the schools offer different hiking possibilities where you can enjoy views from the top of the hill during the afternoon. 

During the week end, volunteers can travel to cities not far from the schools. Damauli for instance is the nearby town where one can find food, clothes and general shopping. For a more cultural escape, Bandipur, a pretty hill station is good for chilling, food and shopping in a well-preserved Newari architecture. Finally Pokhara and Kathmandu are 2 major touristic cities, the latter more relaxing than the former.